By now, many of today's electronic data processing installations, such as personal computers, laptops etc., have operating systems with graphical user interfaces. Such installations can therefore be operated easily and intuitively using pointing appliances, for example.
Modern applications running on such graphically oriented operating systems use what is known as windows technology to communicate with a user. In this case, the applications or executed programs are presented in one or more virtual windows and their results are likewise displayed. Examples of typical applications of this kind are office applications (word processing programs, presentation programs, database programs, spreadsheet programs, etc.) and graphics applications (image editing programs, animation programs, design and calculation programs, etc.).
In this case, a user interacts with tools from such applications, for example programs for image editing, frequently on an event-controlled basis using toolbars, pallets, task panes, control areas, menus, context menus, popup windows, dialog boxes, etc. Frequently, the tools of the applications, which are included in the objects cited above by way of example and are presented accordingly, are selected, activated and controlled by way of a pointing appliance, such as a computer mouse.
However, particularly in the case of graphics applications, such as image editing programs, the operation and control of such objects for activating tools still have shortcomings in terms of their presentation and use.
Particularly in the medical field, a radiologist analyzing digital medical images on a personal computer (PC) needs to concentrate and focus on the content of the images. To this end, the radiologist uses an appropriate piece of software for image editing. So as now to be able to analyze the medical images, the image editing software provides various accessories and tools (e.g. measure tissue density, measure distances, mark lesion, etc.).
However, since image editing programs in the prior art, and the other previously known graphics applications, involve tools and accessories being selected and activated using menus which are not movable or mobile, this frequently also necessitates moving a pointing appliance in order to select and activate the respective buttons on the tools and accessories. In this case, moving the pointing appliance is counter productive, because it leads away from the location of the actual application target.
The result of such a practice for the instance of the analysis of medical images by the radiologist is that the radiologist needs to turn his attention away from the medical image toward the menus and buttons. This makes the analysis very inefficient, since the radiologist loses the context for the image and needs to spend a lot of time on the change of context ‘medical image—tool selection’. For the selection of appropriate tools and accessories, as little distraction as possible would therefore be very desirable in order to allow the most efficient and fastest analysis of images possible in such a case.
Similar circumstances and aspects also arise for other types of applications which interact with a user on a graphical user interface.
As already mentioned, almost all current programs or applications which are presented on graphical user interfaces have a context menu which can be activated by clicking on the right-hand key on a computer mouse. Such a menu always needs to be operated and controlled by moving the mouse, i.e. the mouse pointer, inter alia. In addition, there is no option for the user to configure the context menu. Another, important aspect in terms of user friendliness is that the menus with their buttons have not been able to be activated using a depressible scrollwheel on a computer mouse (by rotating and pressing the scrollwheel), to date. In the case of the solution according to the invention, this additional functionality is included as an option, however. The overall result is that of simplified operation and control of the applications.